Work on a high-voltage power line for a nuclear power plant under construction is far behind schedule because of resident protests. Any more delay will cast a cloud over an early improvement to the nation’s chronic power shortage.

In November 2007, Korea Electric Power Corp. obtained approval for its plan to build a 765-volt transmission line linking a nuclear power plant in Ulsan to a substation in Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang Province. KEPCO has since built 109 of the planned 161 towers across the distance of 90.5 kilometers. Work has intermittently been interrupted, with residents in Milyang, South Gyeongsang Province, staging violent protests.

At the core of the conflict is a demand for underground power transmission from the residents that are concerned about health hazards from overhead cables. KEPCO turned down the proposal, saying an underground transmission line would cost as much as 2 trillion won and its construction would mean another 10-year delay.

Instead, KEPCO offered to increase compensation, including relocation subsidies. Still, the residents continued to block work on the towers. The conflict was made worse as the National Assembly offered in May to mediate its settlement only to give up after 40 days.

KEPCO, which had resumed building the towers in May, halted work later in the month at the request from the National Assembly, which promised to come up with an alternative. Later in the month, KEPCO signed an agreement with the resident representative on a National Assembly proposal to create a commission of experts and honor a recommendation from the group.

A week ago, the nine-member commission came up with a majority opinion that work continue as originally planned. Few could say the recommendation was biased, given that KEPCO, the residents and the legislature had selected three commission members each. Of the three picked by the legislature, the ruling and opposition parties had recommended one each and jointly endorsed the third.

Nonetheless, the residents rejected the recommendation, reneging on its earlier promise. The legislature made a fool of itself when it said, “We hope KEPCO will take measures to restore the residents’ confidence and that the residents will have a broader perspective and take reality into account.”

KEPCO will have to resume work soon if the power plant under construction is to start commercial operations near the end of this year as is planned. It cannot afford to have another delay, which will exacerbate the nation’s power shortage in the coming winter, if not in the summer of 2014 as well.

While continuing work on the transmission line, KEPCO will do well to restart negotiations with the residents on compensation. If the two sides to fail to resume negotiations or the negotiations start only to bog down again, they could bring the case to court for settlement.